Showing alongside troopers at a navy base, the Venezuelan opposition chief Juan Guaidó known as for mass antigovernment protests backed by the navy, a direct problem to the federal government that the navy forces which have to date protected.

“Right now, courageous troopers, courageous patriots, courageous males hooked up to the Structure have adopted our name,” Mr. Guaidó mentioned in a video posted on social media, talking from what he mentioned was Francisco de Miranda Air Base, a navy airport referred to as La Carlota in central Caracas.

He had known as earlier than for the navy to stand up towards the federal government of President Nicolás Maduro, however to do it flanked by males in uniform, at a base within the coronary heart of the capital metropolis, was a brand new step.

Mr. Guaidó claimed that this was a definitive second in toppling the federal government, nevertheless it was not clear how many individuals — or what number of troopers — would heed him.

“We’re relying on the folks of Venezuela as we speak,” he mentioned. “The armed forces are clearly on the facet of the folks.”

Jorge Rodríguez, the federal government’s info minister, mentioned on Twitter that authorities was “confronting and deactivating a small group of navy traitors” that he mentioned had taken over the bottom “to advertise a coup.” He blamed the “coup-mongering ultraright,” which he mentioned had pushed for a violent agenda for months in Venezuela.

Behind Mr. Guaidó, who has described himself since January because the nation’s interim president, stood Leopoldo López, a member of his get together who acquired a virtually 14-year sentence after staging protests in 2014 and has been held by the federal government beneath home arrest. Mr. López didn’t communicate within the video however issued messages on Twitter saying that he had been launched by troopers.

“I used to be launched by the navy on the order of the Structure and President Guaidó,” he wrote in his first Twitter posts since 2017. “Everybody mobilize. It’s time to overcome for freedom.”

The looks of Mr. Guaidó and Mr. López, with the obvious help of some nationwide guardsmen, prompted quick rumors in Caracas that the armed forces might be shifting loyalties away from Mr. Maduro.

Mr. Guaidó, has tried since early this yr to oust the president, whose re-election final yr was extensively seen as fraudulent, and greater than 50 international locations now think about him to be Venezuela’s reputable chief.

A central pillar of his technique has been luring the navy to his facet, and plenty of officers have defected. However that has by no means amounted to sufficient for a full-scale rebellion towards the president.

In January, shortly earlier than Mr. Guaidó declared himself president, nationwide guard troopers at a navy base pledged allegiance to him at a base in Caracas. The federal government stormed the bottom and arrested a number of the troopers.

One of many troopers later appeared in a Colombian border metropolis searching for asylum, the place he joined a number of 1000’s of rank-and-file troopers who had defected.